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Policies & Procedures

Responsibilities of the Madrasah Administration

The Administration is responsible for ensuring that the Madrasah operates in an orderly manner and in keeping with Islamic nonns. It is there to guide and assist the teachers and their assistants, students and parents through the Madrasah system.

Their responsibilities include:

1. Fonnulating Madrasah 's overall policies and regulations.

2. Planning and coordinating courses, teacher assignments, administrative arrangements, and all other related activities.

3. Creating and maintaining an Islamic atmosphere in the Madrasah and all Madrasah- related activities.

4. Responding to any serious disciplinary issues referred to them.

5. Informing parents of Madrasah policies and course requirements.

6. Facilitating and encouraging parent communication with the Madrasah.

7. Serving as an appropriate role model for the teachers and students.

8. Acting as a spokesperson for the Madrasah in the community.

Responsibilities of the Teachers and Support Staff

The teachers' responsibilities are to motivate students to apply themselves, to educate them in the most eff~tive manner possible, and to facilitate an overall positive Madrasah experience for the students.

Their responsibilities include:

1. Attending the Madrasah regularly and on time, or notifying the administrator and/or arranging for a substitute in the event of an absence.

2. Performing their duties with appropriate preparation, resource materials, assignments, etc.

3. Maintaining an orderly classroom atmosphere that is conducive to learning.

4. Teaching students to strive towards self-discipline.

5. Encouraging good work habits that will lead to sound academic performance.

6. Utilizing Teaching Assistants (TAs), where available, to organize class activities, to provide individual-level attention to students in need, to help out with assignments and their grading, and generally to groom them to become future teachers.

7. Establishing an effective partnership with other staff members, students, and parents.

8. Serving as appropriate role models for their students.

Responsibilities of the Parents

The parents are pivotal in the success of their children in acquiring Islamic education and putting it to practice. They can instill and reinforce the importance of Islamic education, hence of the Madrasah, in many direct and subtle ways. Their level of expectation and interest in their child's Madrasah work is contagious and easily sensed by their child.

The parents' responsibilities include:

1. Ensuring that their child attends Madrasah regularly and on time.

2. Notifying the Madrasah in case of a prolonged (two weeks or more) absence, and making arrangements to make up for missed classes.

3. Ensuring that their child and they themselves, are appropriately dressed for the Madrasah.

4. Teaching and reinforcing the importance of respecting teachers and peers, paying attention, and observing Madrasah rules and regulations.

5. Encouraging and leading the child to develop proper study habits at home.

6. Reviewing with their child materials taught each week and ensuring that all homework assignments are completed on time.

7. Participating meaningfully in parent-teacher conferences to discuss their child's progress and areas that need improvement.

8. Discussing report cards with their child and jointly striving for improvement.

Responsibilities of the Students

The students or the learners are the target of all these efforts. They need to come to the Madrasah prepared with mental receptacles open to learn.

The students' responsibilities are:

1. Attending Madrasah regularly and on time.

2. Wearing proper Islamic dress to the Madrasah (For details, refer to the "Dress Code" section).

3. Bringing to class appropriate texts, handouts, and necessary supplies (binders, writing paper, pens/pencils, etc.).

4. Participating in class discussions and activities.

5. Completing all homework assignments and preparing for quizzes and exams.

6. Conducting themselves in a courteous and responsible manner.

7. Showing respect towards teachers and adults, and being helpful to fellow students.

8. Observing all Madrasah rules and regulations.

POLICY

Admissions

All courses taught in the Madrasah will be based on the Qur'an and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (5) and his Ahlul-Bayt. (a). Admission is open to all Muslims who are four years of age or older. On the 31 st day of August of each school year.

The process of admission involves filling out an enrollment form, and an emergency card, and paying the appropriate fees. Parents and students are also required to read the Madrasah Handbook and sign the Tripartite Partnership Agreement. (For samples of these founs, refer to the "Founs" section). Prospective students will then be assessed and placed in appropriate class.

• The Administration has the right to refuse admission to any applicant, but will explain to the parents the reasons for its decision.

• The Administration will have the ultimate authority of deciding the class in which the student should be placed

• Students with the exception of new arrivals from out of town may no longer register for Madrasah after the first Saturday in October. However, transfers for valid reasons from other Madrasah will be considered

Texts and Supplies

To the extent possible, the Madrasah will provide resource materials needed for instruction. However, the Madrasah may require the students to purchase prescribed texts and expects them to provide all necessary supplies (binders, writing paper, pens, pencils, etc.)

Homework Assignments

Homework serves many purposes. Amongst them are: reinforcement of the material taught during the short Madrasah hours, and identification of the strengths and weaknesses as well as any special needs of a student. Additionally, it allows an opportunity for the family to take an active interest in what their child is being taught.

As a general rule, homework assignments will be less than two hours a week. It is, perhaps, best if the assignment is done in small increments, over several days.

While the Madrasah will strive to teach students tajweed, (rules of recitation of the Qur' an), there is not enough time in class to help them gain fluency. Thus, parents are strongly urged to personally help and/or utilize modern aids, on a regular basis, to accomplish this goal.

Performance Assessment

The Madrasah supports a system of continuous and comprehensive assessment -continuous in the sense that assessment occurs throughout the year, and comprehensive in the sense that it covers not just the materials taught, but also Islamic behaviors.

To this end, teachers may use any or all of the following methods: (but each teacher will inform the students of his/her policy at the beginning of the Madrasah year)

• Hold periodic quizzes or tests.

• Give homework assignments.

• Assess participation in class discussions and activities.

• Evaluate behavior in the class and, more generally, during the Madrasah hours.

• Students are expected to complete assigned work on time. Failure to do so will result in a penalty to be specified by each teacher. This penalty will be in the form of deduction of marks from that assignment.

The course work will be graded as follows over the year:

• Test Scores: 25%

• Homework: 25%

• Attendance: 25%

• Final Exams: 25%

The Madrasah, in addition, may hold an exam for each course at the end of each term or year. The student's overall assessment will be based on all of the above
components, with the exams accounting for a maximum of fifty percent of the final grade.

Emergency School Closing

(due to natural disasters, other emergencies)

Given our geographical location, we are very susceptible to bad weather as in hurricanes, tornadoes and thunderstorms. Due to such weather patterns, we have had to close the school for the safety of the children and teachers and unfortunately, it has been at short notice, which has caused some confusion at times. Therefore, this year, the IEC has decided to come up with some guidelines, that will enable us to communicate better with the parents, if such an emergency does occur.

A decision to close the school due to bad weather, will be made by 8 P.M. Friday night, before the Saturday in question. This decision will be based upon current weather conditions and predicted conditions for the next day. The decision will be made by a team of allocated teachers, who will have collected enough information by the time indicated. This team will communicate by phone with each other.

Parent- Teacher Conference

Parents are most welcome to make an appointment, at any time, to see the teachers or, when necessary, the Administrator to discuss their child's progress. Formal teacher-parent conferences, however, will be scheduled at the discretion of the Administrator. The purpose of these conferences would be to help parents:

• Understand the areas to be covered in each course and the ways in which they could work cooperatively with the teachers.

• Learn about their child's academic progress, work habits, social relationships with other students and with the Madrasah staff

Recognition and Award

With a vision to motivate students to excel, the Madrasah will recognize students for their achievements at the end of the Madrasah year. Recognition may be based on attendance, performance, extraordinary effort, special projects, etc., or on combination of these criteria. The basis of recognition may change from time to time, and so will be made clear ahead of time. Students who satisfy the criteria will be presented with awards that may include trophies, books, merchandise, or cash.

Promotion and Retention

The Madrasah may, at its discretion, retain a student in the same class for another year if he/she has not attained a minimum level of proficiency in the subject matter . Promoting such students to the next, higher level may only serve to frustrate them as they would not be able to cope and fall even further behind.

Visitors

We like to have visitors come and meet our staff, students and to generally, see our operations. However, visitors are requested to make prior arrangements with the Administrator so that they can be properly received and shown around

General Rules

In addition to the points made under the section on "Responsibilities of the Students, " students are also expected to abide by these basic rules.

• Attendance -Absences and Tardiness
  Attending the Madrasah regularly and on time is the responsibility of both the parents and the student:

  • All students must attend Madrasah regularly unless they are out of town, or if there is an emergency or an illness.

  • All students must be punctual, as tardiness both disrupts the class and impedes the academic progress of the student.

  • Students who are unduly absent for more than 4 Madressa days per term, or 3 consecutive Madressa days, may forfeit their placement unless valid reasons are provided by parents - preferably before such absences occur. The student will make sufficient effort to integrate into his/her class after return from their absence.
    Note: Vacations are not considered valid reasons.

  • Any student who misses a test in any subject except Quran, will not be able to take a make-up test unless there is a death in a family or has provided proof of sickness (Doctor's Note). His / Her final marks will be adjusted accordingly. Any students who miss a Quran test for a valid reason may request a make up test from his/her teacher on the first day he gets back.
    Note: Vacations are not considered valid reasons.

• Dress Code

  Islamic dress code must be adhered to by all the students and staff without exception

  • Men must wear long pants with shirt or T -shirt (with sleeves) that does not display any faces, animals, etc. which would interfere with salaat. Baseball caps and earrings are not allowed.

  • Women must observe hijab (scarf covering all their hair), and wear loose clothing, covering arms up to the wrists and legs up to the ankles. See-through and tight-fitting garments should not be worn

• Disciplinary Action
  To maintain a model Islamic environment and to ensure the safety and well being of all the staff and students, it may be necessary to impose disciplinary action on students who shun their responsibilities and/or infringe rules and regulations of the Madrasah. The disciplinary action will depend on the severity of infraction and, at the discretion of the teacher and/or the Administrator, may include one or more of the following actions:

  1. Verbal warning by the teacher and/ or Administrator .

  2. Note sent home to parents.

  3. Teacher and/or Administrator contacting the parents.

  4. Calling for teacher -student -parent conference.

  5. Break-time detention with special assignment (E.g., clean-up chores, etc.).

  6. After-hours detention with special assignment

  7. Suspension /Expulsion after approval from Principal/Teacher